1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-function concurrent processing device capable of concurrently processing a plurality of control programs using time sharing methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, many electronic devices, such as information processing devices, include an internal computer of some sort. In order to more rapidly process a plurality of functions, such as a computation process function or a process function for inputting and outputting information, one such electronic device uses a type of multi-function concurrent processing called multi-processing to concurrently process the plurality of functions. The electronic device includes a plurality of central processing units connected in series. In order to perform the plurality of functions, an operation system with a concurrent process management system uses the CPUs to separately execute a plurality of control programs that correspond to the plurality of functions.
The electronic device that utilizes multi-function concurrent processing includes a display, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube display (CRT display). A variety of messages relating to errors and changes in condition of the electronic device are generated in association with execution of the variety of control programs. Each message is displayed at a predetermined region of the display allotted for display of that message. The user can grasp and gain an understanding of the present execution condition of the plurality of functions by viewing the corresponding messages displayed on the display.
It should be noted that other electronic devices use time sharing methods to more rapidly process a plurality of functions. During time sharing processes, a single processing unit executes a plurality of control programs one after the other in a predetermined order each time a short predetermined processing time elapses.